Tag: facebook

What an amazing week! There’s nothing like watching a revolution via social media to bring the power of shared communication, collaboration and instant connections into full view. Besides the revolution in Egypt, I found lots of great content this week to share with you.

I’m sorry, the story of Sony’s social media blunder, to me, just doesn’t have the weight or consequence that some of the other recent social media blunders (like Kenneth Cole’s). But it is worth noting how far and wide a single tweet can travel.

If you’re in communications – get a smart phone. For real. It doesn’t have to be an iPhone. Just get a smart phone.

A quick scan of Twitter or Facebook, a timely update to your Tumblr or blog, even being able to handle an urgent situation are all possible from the palm of your hand. Knowing I can “hear” if someone is talking to me (or a client) saves me a ton of time.

It’s also not all about social media specifically, but for generally being productive and saving myself time.

Applications I use to help:

Twitter for iPhone

Tweetdeck for iPhone (yes, I use 2, I monitor a bunch of accounts)

Facebook with all the Pages for which I’m an admin bookmarked.

Tumblr for posting photos (this is a personal outlet for me)

WordPress (although I rarely use it, I have it set up if I need to)

LinkedIn (again, not often used, but you never know!)

Other productivity apps I use:

Harvest (my time tracker. If it’s on my phone, I can track my time on the fly.)

TeuxDeux (my favorite list maker, to do list builder)

Huddle (my project management/coordination program)

Do you have any apps you use to help manage social media (or your life)? I’d love to hear about them!

This is the next-to-the-last linky love of the term. It really has been a fun term, but let’s just say senior-itis isn’t just for seniors… Counting down!

That said, apparently there are other people who still have working brains and have created some food for your thoughts, too.

I’m more and more fascinated with the Facebook privacy brou-haha and several great posts last week illuminated the discussion for me (for purposes of your linky love post, dear J452 students, you can take all these together or look at them individually). darah boyd had a terrific post about radical transparency and informed choice. Jeff Jarvis also talked about *the* public vs *a* public when it comes to the way people participate in Facebook and other outlets.

Campbell Brown (who I love) is leaving CNN. That’s not terribly newsworthy, but the statement she issued was really terrific. What’s your reaction to her statement? What can we learn as communicators?

It seems like a good idea. When you update Twitter, why not update Facebook automatically… and while you’re at it, how about LinkedIn?

To me, each of these tools serves a different purpose and therefore needs different content. Certainly there is overlap in many instances, but it’s important to think about how each fits into your overall personal social media use – or how, as an organization, each helps you reach your objectives.

Twitter: Short updates, more “real-time,” drive traffic to Web or blog, personal appeal. Tweets often don’t make sense out of context and when you add hashtags, RT’s and @’s it can be confusing, particularly for those on Facebook who aren’t familiar with how Twitter works. And yes, there are still plenty of people for whom that’s true.

Facebook Fan Page: More room to wiggle (no character limit), ability to add links with thumbnails for visual appeal. If you update from Facebook, the syncing to Twitter is technically easy, but can look awkward when it goes over the character limit. When Facebook-to-Twitter updates cut off, the result can be just more noise in the Twitter stream. Example:

LinkedIn: Suit & tie network, business-oriented. I see too many status updates that not only have nothing to do with your business-self, but could be less than helpful if a potential employer, investor or business partner happened to visit your profile at just that moment.

That’s not to say that you can’t use the same subject and update each platform appropriately. I do that all the time. I just don’t often update simultaneously. Maybe it’s a control thing. But I want to know that each group of fans/friends/followers is getting the best content for them, at the right “pace” and the most relevant.

When it makes sense for overlap, I prefer to send updates from Twitter. By using “Selective Twitter” on Facebook (where you add #fb to do simultaneous updates) and adding Twitter to your LinkedIn profile (use #in for simultaneous updates), you can be smart about your updates.

My personal rules of thumb are pretty basic. I use my personal Facebook page largely for personal use, so I only sync my Twitter and personal Facebook when I tweet things that are (potentially) interesting for friends & family. But what if you’re helping to manage fan pages and Twitter accounts?

Twitter –> Facebook Fan Page: Updates that translate easily to a Facebook audience. That means knowing what the people connected to the company on each platform want and expect. And, without exception, the expectations are different. For one company in particular, Facebook fans are only interested in updates from the company and I get very little interaction around other information. Twitter friends, on the other hand, like a variety of information and often retweet or reply to non-company-related tweets. When I sync the two, it’s only when the two groups’ interests overlap.

Twitter –> LinkedIn: Updates that are related to my business and add something to my virtual resume. These updates also need to be more “timeless.” That is, I don’t update LinkedIn as often as the other networks, so the updates should add value and not get stale too quickly.

I know full well that people will disagree with me and have a different approach to this conundrum. I’d love to hear what you think!

According to a recent survey of 100 executive recruiters done by ExecutNet, 77 percent of recruiters reported using search engines to find background data on candidates. Of that number, 35 percent eliminated a candidate because of what they found online. StarTribune.com

Online repuation is not just a matter of limiting what you put on line, but being very deliberate about what you share and how you position yourself as a young professional. You will be Googled, why not have the results be intentional?

Having a strong online presence is important. If you don’t participate in social media, that doesn’t mean you’re safe from would-be Googlers. What if a less-than-savvy classmate posts something critical about you as a teammate on his profile or blog? Or another friend tags you in an embarrassing photo? If that’s your only “digital footprint,” then that’s what you will be judged on. Neither is intentional on your part or a deliberate management of your repuation, right?

Some tips to creating and managing your digital footprint:

Know what’s out there. Do a search for your name. If you have a common name, add modifiers such as your state or university. If you wanted to find you online, how would you do it?

Maintain an accurate and professional Facebook profile. You don’t have to scrub your personality out of your profile – in fact, don’t! Social media is about being transparent and authentic. But hopefully your authentic self has something to share besides beer pong photos.

Consider your presence on other social networking sites like MySpace, PROpenMic, LinkedIn or others. Of these, PROpenMic and LinkedIn should be helpful to building a professional presence, but every time you upload a picture, or fill out a profile, be conscious of how you’re changing your digital footprint.

Blog. If your classes aren’t requiring that you blog, start one on your own. I have lots of blogging tips on my delicious.com page to get you started. But blogging can be a great way to affect your SERP, but also gives your practice writing, thinking about issues and trends related to your topic and can serve as an online portfolio.

Remember that email, comments and blog posts are forever. For-ev-er. Think before you type.

What other tips do you have? If you Google yourself, what comes up in the results? How did that information get there?